Sainsbury's brings in the headhunters to shop for new chairman

Published on Saturday 28 February 2009 13:21

SAINSBURY'S has hired headhunters to find a replacement chairman for Sir Philip Hampton, which may hasten his planned departure.

He says he wants to focus on his new role at Royal Bank of Scotland. "It would not be right for me to do both jobs," he said after presenting the bank's record loss last week.

It is understood that a number of candidates have already been identified and approached about taking the chair at the supermarket group.

Hampton is prepared to stay on until a successor is found. He was previously finance director of Lloyds TSB and BT and briefly took on the role of chairman of UK Financial Investments, the body set up by the Government to manage its holdings in banks, before being poached by RBS.

He said on Friday that he only agreed to take on the RBS chairmanship with "the unanimous support of the board".

Hampton was already preparing to announce the biggest loss in British corporate history on Thursday when he was forced to explain the background to outgoing chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin's pension arrangements. His 16m pension pot, which will pay him 693,000 a year, has caused widespread outrage and prompted demands for him to re-pay at least part of it.

Hampton said that it "seemed wrong" that Goodwin was leaving with such a large pension, but promised a new set of rules that would ensure those joining the board in future would not be entitled to these payments. He said: "We have been reviewing where there is a basis to reduce those payments. We have stopped this happening again."

Bookmaker William Hill has cut the odds it has been offering that Goodwin will give up at least part of his RBS pension before the end of the year, from 6/1 to 3/1.

"In the opinion of many of our punters, Sir Fred will eventually submit to the massive pressure to make a gesture by giving up at least some of his controversial pension pot," said spokesman Graham Sharpe. William Hill offers 2/9 that Goodwin will keep the lot.